About this blog

My name is Bill Hirt and I'm a candidate to be a Representative from the 48th district in the Washington State legislature. My candidacy stems from concern the legislature is not properly overseeing the WSDOT and Sound Transit East Link light rail program. I believe East Link will be a disaster for the entire eastside. ST will spend 5-6 billion on a transportation project that will increase, not decrease cross-lake congestion, violates federal environmental laws, devastates a beautiful part of residential Bellevue, creates havoc in Bellevue's central business district, and does absolutely nothing to alleviate congestion on 1-90 and 405. The only winners with East Link are the Associated Builders and Contractors of Western Washington and their labor unions.

This blog is an attempt to get more public awareness of these concerns. Many of the articles are from 3 years of failed efforts to persuade the Bellevue City Council, King County Council, east side legislators, media, and other organizations to stop this debacle. I have no illusions about being elected. My hope is voters from throughout the east side will read of my candidacy and visit this Web site. If they don't find them persuasive I know at least I tried.

Friday, October 12, 2012

Lakewood Sounder Extension More ST Incompetency

Sunday’s
Times (10/7) celebrated the initiation of Sounder service to Lakewood.Pierce County Executive Pat McCarthy,
who chairs the Sound Transit Board proclaimed “This is a great day for Lakewood
and a great day for the region”.I believe it’s just another
example of Sound Transit incompetence where they spend tens or even hundreds of
millions to extend light rail in a futile attempt to attract more riders

Lakewood
already had good transit service with bus routes ST590-595.Their second quarter ridership of
430,840 trailed only the ST Bellevue-Seattle and Redmond-Seattle routes in
total number of riders.ST590 or
ST592 buses left Lakewood SR512 P&R every 10 to 15 minutes from 4:20 a.m.
until 10:00 a.m. and every 30 minutes until 6:00 p.m.Buses leaving
before 8:10 a.m. arrived at 4th and Union in Seattle in 60-70
minutes.Later routes included
stops at the Tacoma Dome that increased route times by 10 minutes.

The
return routes from 2nd and Seneca began at 11:00 a.m. every 30
minutes until 2:00 p.m. when buses ran every 10-20 minutes until 11:42 p.m.The return trips again took about 70
minutes during peak commute and 10 minutes longer for the early and later buses
that stopped at the Tacoma Dome. The standard fares in both directions are $3.50.

The
Lakewood Sounder will provide 5 northbound trains from 4:42 a.m. to
6:37 a.m. and 5 southbound trains from 4:20 p.m. to 6:15 p.m.The Seattle terminus is the King Street
Station.The standard fares from
Lakewood will be $5.25 each way.

It’s
not clear what the travel times will be from Lakewood, however the Sounder
Tacoma to Seattle portion currently takes 58-59 minutes in each direction.Presumably the additional 8 miles from
Lakewood will add 15 minutes to route times. Thus, there is little difference
between transit times for the two options.

Total
commute times, however, for most of those riding the train will increase because
of the time required to either walk or ride a bus from the King Street Station
to their final destination.(No
more free buses?) Those riding buses would presumably be
dropped off far closer to their destinations.It’s doubtful many transit riders will switch from the bus to the train when faced with the early departures, the increased fares, and especially the problems associated with getting to and from your destination from the King Street Station.

This
overpromising of riders is similar to Sound Transits Everett Sounder
program which had many of the same problems.There they spent about
$500 million in capital costs to initiate rail service.The combination of the high train
operating costs along with their failure to attract riders has forced Sound
Transit to pay $20,000 a year to cover the operating costs for each rider. (see 6/12/12post for details)One can only hope they do
better this time.

About Me

My last elective position was class president for 25 “class of ’57” seniors in Armstrong, Iowa. I received an MS in engineering at ISU, worked at Boeing for 36 years before retiring in 1998. My wife and I moved into our current home in Bellevue in 1967 where we raised two daughters. Three years of unsuccessful attempts to persuade BCC to block EL are available on “extended session” meeting minutes. Copies of many were sent to all the media outlets, legislators, and others to no avail. I’m hoping this Web site will convince east side residents to query their own legislators.